Saturday, April 19, 2008

Cork C of I landed the Munster Senior Cup in an action-packed final against their fierce rivals, Harlequins, at Farmer's Cross. They looked comfortable, going into a 2-0 lead thanks to John Bruton and Paul O'Leary but were pegged back by the break as the game became fractious toward half-time.

Dave Egner and John Hobbs scored the equalising goals before the break in a half where David Lombard was yellow carded twice and Andy Chambers picking up one for CI. And, this trend continued into the second half when Richie Gash was red carded in the 45th minute for violent conduct.

That incident preceded a pair of penalty strokes, Philip Smith netting in the 46th minute before Paul Lombard made it 3-3 from the spot a minute later.

Smith got CI back in front for a third time from play and they looked to be coasting to victory for a short while. But Harlequins' 10 men mounted a late charge and Dan Hobbs got a leveller with a couple of minutes to go and force extra-time.

It lasted barely five minutes, though, as Bruton got his second to seal CI's second title in a week.